1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to optical viewfinders for cameras, and in particular to a viewfinder for use in a camera to view a subject to be photographed with the camera oriented horizontally or vertically.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When taking a picture it is necessary to know not only in what direction to aim the camera but also how much of the subject or scene will be included in the picture. For this reason practically every modern camera has a viewfinder of some kind.
Most modern cameras include an optical viewfinder for viewing and framing the subject to be photographed. The viewfinder typically includes framing marks which define a rectangular-shaped view of the subject. When the camera is oriented horizontally for picture-taking, the rectangular-shaped view of the subject is horizontally oriented, i.e., it is longer in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction. Conversely, to correctly view a subject for picture-taking with the camera vertically oriented, the camera must first be changed from its horizontal orientation to a vertical one in order to re-orient the rectangular-shaped view to a vertical orientation.